Tag: #fortwayne

Have you been apple picking yet this season? My grandma happens to have apple trees in her yard! We have been lucky enough to have (basically) unlimited access to apples this season! I have the perfect activity for apple abundance. If there are no apples to spare, just use the apple ends that nobody will eat anyways. I often find use of our scraps. I use them for Saylors sensory when it applies to the current lesson.

Saylor used his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to create apple inspired art! I encouraged him to stamp apples on his paper using green and red paint. I would have included yellow too, but we were all out!

You’ll see that he decided to turn it into a little finger painting session as well, so we rolled with it! That’s just what you have to do with the little one activities! He is pretty young still and learning structure as we go. Doing little lessons like this now will make it easier for him to follow instruction later, when he has the focus to go with it.

I talked about colors, shapes, sizes, and textures out loud while Saylor created his art. I also encouraged him to count the apple slices on the paper. (of course he can’t count yet- however, he can begin to recognize numbers as separate beings/begin to listen to their patterns.)

This activity is easy to put together- and didn’t require a trip to the craft store! Even the kitten joined in!
Alright, time for a cliche mama coffee break. Enjoying your remaining week!

Today I made sensory bottles for Saylor. He absolutely loves them! I have made many sensory bottles, but this container has to be my favorite! It’s a good size, easy lids, and durable! If you’ve ever been around a one year old you’ll know that ‘durable’ is very important, ha!

I make sensory bottles so Saylor can observe items that I don’t want ending up in his mouth. I write on the sensory bottles to display each item as a word. Although Saylor obviously can’t read, he can observe words as separate beings with various letters. He is able to observe shapes of letters and patterns in each word. I make sure to communicate about the items in the jar on a daily basis. “What color is in the jar?” “What does this sound like?” “Big Leaves!” “Little leaves!” Etc. Repetition is so helpful- just a little bit every day will help with developmental connections!

Sensory Bottles

You Will Need

•Empty peanut butter jars or Wowbutter jars for my no nuts friends

•Spray Paint (optional for fashion reasons)

•Items of your choice for the jars

•Tape

• Sharpie Marker

See! Easy Peasy! I will reuse my jars for different items in the future. Whatever is related to our lesson at the time. I recommend a little glue under the lid with liquid filled jars. Just in case!!

I mean…who doesn’t like Audrey Hepburn? Anyways, what a meaningful quote! I just started a new lesson on gardens and growing. It’s a very important topic because gardening promotes health,responsibility, and dedication! These are some important qualities that I want to share with my kiddos! Gardening can also introduce early science lessons. Of course my little Saylor isn’t going to question why plants grow but consider an older age group. Encouraging our kids to notice a plants growth over time shows them that caring and nurturing attitudes can create wonderful results! Later in life they can use this skill not only in the garden but in day to day relationships. It’s not always smooth sailing teaching the little ones patience but it’s totally worth it.

Caring Importance

I demonstrated washing cabbage and radish this morning to share the importance of caring. It’s really important for me to show my kids the benefits of caring for the things we engage in (such as eating) and not just going about life mindlessly. I encouraged Saylor to join in and help me on his own. He used fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to wash the veggies on his own. I also encouraged him to observe colors, textures, and shapes. While observing I communicated about the qualities out loud in order to promote language skills. I encouraged Saylor to repeat colors back- no such luck today! I also want to be forward about the environmental changes I had to make before finishing this lesson. I attempted bringing this activity outside and letting Saylor observe it all in the grass. Instead the whole yard was his playground! It’s so easy to overstimulate these little ones. So if you’re ever wondering, “why wont my kid sit down and do such and such?” you are not alone! Saylor is not always interested in holding still to observe either. When this happens I just try to create a change in our environment that allows him to focus easier. This morning that change was strapping him into his high chair. I never just forget the activity and move on to whatever it is he wants to do. I think it’s important to share the importance of structure and rules at a young age so that it’s not a culture shock later in life. When the activity was over I let him climb around the yard until his little heart desired! He loved it! He also enjoyed the activity once I made it easier for him to focus on. Babes love free play and believe me I am all about stepping back to allow that. They are also craving your guidance and structure. Even when they don’t know it! It helps me to be consistent with our activities. I usually get them knocked out before nap time and then the later part of the day is dedicated to more laid back and flexible activities.(walks at the park, free play, etc.)

Art

One way I like to make things easy is using our sensory items again for art. Repetition is a helpful way to help kids build connections. We used the same radish sliced from sensory to create some red radish art! Saylor used fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to direct his radish slices in the paint. He observed colors, textures, and shapes while I encouraged him to talk about them. I always get asked how I keep Saylor from making a mess during art. The answer? I don’t. Let those kids make a mess from time to time- it’s good for their soul. It’s also good for creating a sense of control and boundaries. I know you’re thinking I am full of it, but one of the most beneficial ways of learning is hands on! What an easy opportunity to let our kids be hands on. I find it does make my life easier when I am prepared for clean up before the mess even begins. When Saylor does art I get out a wet wash cloth and prepare the clean up before I even turn him loose on the art. This gives me bit more control during clean up when hes trying to grab my hair, clothes, etc!

I keep the occasional finger paint originals. I also like to create items relevant to our current lessons if it works out. Do you think Saylor will look back at his art puns with embarrassment? HA!

Sensory

I did not create a specific spot for sensory today, but I included it in all of our projects. Saylor used his senses to observe colors, textures, shapes, and sounds during these activities. I talked about the colors, shapes, and textures out loud to help Saylor make connections with words and his surroundings. I always think about how it’s really a blessing that I am so good at talking to myself. This world is brand new for our babies and they need you to talk about everything out loud to better learn!

Saylor is learning about the color green today! We spent the first part of our morning outside just exploring all the green nature around here. So in other words… almost everything, ha! I am excited for us to find a home of our own soon, but I have to admit I will miss all of this nature a bit when we no longer live in the country! What a perfect place for Saylor to explore his first bits of nature!

Large Motor Skills

Saylor practiced his walking in the soft, damp grass. He observed the textures and temperatures with his toes. I spoke out loud about the color green to help promote language skill relating to each green object. I encouraged Saylor to walk with me and follow me around the yard. He used large motor skills to practice taking steps and pick himself back up each time he took a fall.

Sensory

After exploring the green nature around the yard, I brought out a sensory project. I placed various green items from Saylor’s toys into the green grass. I encouraged him to explore the items and that went well for a few moments. He is very determined to walk soon and he eventually got distracted towards that instead. I always think I wont be able to find enough of one color for our sensory projects but you’ll be surprised what you can find around the house when you look. A green flip flop for example, ha! Whatever works!

Art

Saylor created his art work using green grass with white paint. I use non toxic crayola tempera paint for basically all art projects. I encouraged him to spread the grass around on the paper using his fingers and hands. He used fine motor skills to maneuver the grass around as he wanted. He explored color, texture, and shapes while creating his art. I continued to talk out loud about the color green during art in order to help him make language connections. I encouraged him to say “green” but no such luck today, ha! He did try though, using some other babble, and that’s good enough for me!